Flaming Lips

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Biography

The Flaming Lips (formed 1983)

The Flaming Lips is an American band from Oklahoma. The band is known for its psychedelic music, abstract lyrics and extravagant live shows.

Formation & Early Career: The Flaming Lips' debut gig was at Oklahoma City's Blue Note Lounge, with Mark Coyne (Wayne's brother) on vocals and Michael Ivins on bass guitar. They eventually settled with Richard English on drums and in 1984, released The Flaming Lips. This was their only release to feature Mark Coyne on lead vocals.

After Mark left the band, Wayne took over the vocal duties. The band's first full-length release, Hear It Is, was released in 1986 on Pink Dust Records. This was followed up by Oh My Gawd!!! In 1987 and Telepathic Surgery in 1989.

In 1989, Jonathan Donahue (of Mercury Rev) joined the band and English was replaced on drums by Nathan Roberts.

Progression: In A Priest Driven Ambulance was recorded on a $10,000 budget and saw a development in the band's sound, to include tape loops and effects. It was also around this time that Wayne Coyne's vocal sound developed to a strained sound, similar to that of Neil Young.

In 1990, The Flaming Lips signed to Warner Brothers. Their first major label album, Hit to Death in the Future Head was released in 1992. Following the album's creation, Donahue left the band to concentrate on Mercury Rev and Roberts left the band as well. They were replaced by Ronald Jones and Steve Drozd.

Transmissions from the Satellite Heart was released in 1993. The single 'She Don't Use Jelly' was a huge hit for the band and The Flaming Lips opened tours for bands such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Candlebox.

Clouds Taste Metallic was released in 1995. Although it did not sell as well as Transmissions. the critics loved it. The constant touring proved too much for Ronald Jones, though and he left the band.

The band's next album, Zaireeka, released in 1997, was a dramatic departure, not only from their own style, but also from conventional ways of delivering modern rock music. The album was released as a set of four CDs, which were designed to be played together, simultaneously, on separate CD players.

In a return to more conventional formats, the band released The Soft Bulletin in 1999. The album is often compared to Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, for its layered string arrangements and off-the-wall lyrics. Not ones to shy away from experimentation, The Flaming Lips hosted the 'Headphone Concert', whilst touring The Soft Bulletin. All guests were given a headset to wear at the concert and an FM transmitter allowed them to hear the concert with greater clarity, whilst still feeling the force of a large P.A. system.

In 2002, The Flaming Lips released Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. They earned a Grammy Award for 'Best Rock Instrumental Performance' for 'Approaching Pavonis Mons by Balloon (Utopia Planitia).'

The Flaming Lips appeared as Beck's backing band on his 'Sea Change' tour. The band went on to headline Lollapalooza in 2004, though the tour was eventually cancelled.

The Flaming Lip's 11th album was At War With the Mystics. Two singles were released from the album: 'The W.A.N.D.' and 'The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song'. The latter was the Flaming Lips' highest chart success in the UK, peaking at 16. Later in 2006, they released the four-track It Overtakes Me EP. The band repeated their Grammy win for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for 'The Wizard Turns On. The Giant Flashlight and Puts on His Werewolf Moccasins.'

In December 2006, Oklahoma City acknowledged the band's success by naming an alley in the entertainment district 'Flaming Lips Alley'.

The festival might be over but there's still plenty of performances to watch on catch-up that you might've missed.

There aren't many weekends of the year that most of the country pray for rain, all except the fortuitous 250,000 people that descend on a farm in Glastonbury as most of the country sit at home and watch with what the twitter hashtag describes as #glastoenvy. There are of course some benefits to being an armchair viewer of Glastonbury Festival. The beer is always cold, the toilets are always clean and set clashes are not a concern.

So as the likes of David Beckham, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Corbyn all hit Worthy Farm for the weekend, these were the five best sets of Glastonbury 2017 that are well worth re-watching from the comfort of home - accompanied by a great sound system.

Miley Cyrus is to perform one of her upcoming live shows with The Flaming Lips completely naked. In what is surely an attempt to be the most searched term ever for a pop concert, the Lips’ frontman Wayne Coyne announced that one of their six gigs with Cyrus across North America would be performed with the band, and the audience, completely nude.

Coyne posted via his Instagram page on Tuesday (October 13th), along with a split picture of Cyrus and his band, that everybody on stage would be playing without clothes “milk (well, white stuff that looks like milk) is spewed everywhere”, and that the results would be filmed for a promo video for the song ‘The Milky Milky Milk’, taken from their recent collaboration album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz.

Miley Cyrus gave a moving performance during her appearance on Saturday Night Live which suggests she’s still coming to terms with the death of her husky, Floyd.

Miley Cyrus shed a few tears during her appearance on Saturday Night Live over the weekend. The 22-year-old acted as the guest host and featured musical talent for the NBC show which aired on Saturday (3rd October).

The singer has just released new record ‘…And Her Dead Pets’ for free on Soundcloud.

Miley Cyrus didn’t disappoint as host of the year’s MTV VMAs on Sunday (August 30th). The ‘Wrecking Ball’ singer led the ceremony in all her barely dressed, tongue sticking out glory, making the awards more colourful and glittery than ever before, even if Nicki Minaj wasn't too impressed.

Miley Cyrus hosted this year’s MTV VMA awards.

The singer opened the ceremony by telling the audience, "This is a show that hasn't had a host in the last two years, a tradition they will probably return to after tonight's show.” Cyrus then showed a pre-taped sketch which featured 'The Mindy Project‘s' Ike Barinholtz and 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine‘s' Andy Samberg.

Wayne Coyne, Katy Weaver, Steven Drozd and The Flaming Lips - The David Lynch Foundation's DLF Live presents 'The Music Of David Lynch' at The Theatre at Ace Hotel - Arrivals at The Theater at Ace Hotel Los Angeles CA - Los Angeles, California, United States - Wednesday 1st April 2015

The Flaming Lips latest project makes sense in a slightly perverse way. Following the acid tinged trip of their last full-length album, 2013's The Terror, Wayne Coyne and his merry band have now chosen to tackle a track-by-track reinterpretation of the record that introduced acid to the world, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. A continuation of their series of eclectic collaborative albums, With A Little Help From My Fwends, is sadly a rather patchy affair. While ambitious in the same way as the Lips earlier attempt at re-recording Dark Side Of The Moon, the result of listening to one of the crown jewels of rock refracted through a 21st century psychedelic prism is rather disorientating and frustrating.

When this bold approach works, it does so surprisingly well. Songs like 'She's Leaving Home' and 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' showcase a delicate balance between The Beatles' song writing and The Flaming Lips' sonic capabilities. However far too often the record strays into a disorientating aural assault. Take for example 'Within You, Without You'. The original was a subdued slice of otherworldly introspection. Yet here it descends into a technical exercise to squeeze every last piece of feedback out of the amps and strange noises out of the keyboards. While I'm not averse to radical re=workings some of the material here just sounds like a step too far, and detrimental to the source material.

That's not to say I'd be happy with a faithful note-by-note presentation either. When the Flaming Lips approach works, it's usually because they're enhancing what's already there, rather than hijacking it. For many listeners the air of familiarity to the songs will be an important factor, so when the new approach goes completely off-piste, that's when it seems to be most problematic. There are also an impressive number of guests here, but again at times it's difficult to identify their actual contribution through the Lips' acid haze. One such example is on the opening track itself. J.Mascis rips through the guitar parts admirably, but I'm not entirely sure if I could point out My Morning Jacket in the crowd.

Rock oddballs The Flaming Lips have released more details about their upcoming charity album. It's a track-by-track tribute album to The Beatles' 1967 classic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, regarded by many to be the most influential pop record ever released.

Miley Cyrus and Moby appear in The Flaming Lips' latest music video entitled 'Blonde SuperFreak Steals the Magic Brain'. Front man Wayne Coyne has attempted to offer some form of explanation, but its meaning is still not clear. See what you think!

Miley Cyrus appears in The Flaming Lips' latest 'music' video and smokes profusely whilst a naked woman meanders around carrying a large blob of jelly and the band plays in a rainbow costume. The video, entitled Blonde SuperFreak Steals the Magic Brain, also features Moby as a cult leader. Unsurprisingly, the video is meant to reference LSD, but you'd have to be on something fairly strong to find it remotely enjoyable viewing.

Miley Cyrus' performances are nearly as trippy as The Flaming Lips' video.

Head to the continent for a festival experience of a lifetime with Spain's Primavera Sound, Denmark's Roskilde Festival and France's Rock En Seine to name a few.

We've been seriously pushing US and UK music festivals this year but, it has to be said, there's nowhere quite like Europe.

The continent is home to some of the most unique music events in the world and, looking at what's on offer this year, it seems that the festival season is the best time to experience cultural diversity to the nth degree. Whether its sun or snow you're after, rock or dance music, indoor or outdoor, Europe has it all and with the summer quickly approaching, it's time to get on a plane and take the best vacation of your lives as we guide you to the most exciting countries you can hope to visit this year.

Belgium- Pukkelpop (August 14th - 16th): This Belgian weekend remains seriously cool having first began in 1985 and always playing host to some of the world's best alternative music with early performers including Ramones, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Iggy Pop. Nearly 30 years on, Pukkelpop maintains its excellence with 2014 seeing the likes of Clean Bandit, Gogol Bordello and Die Antwoord on the bill.- Tomorrowland (July 18th - 20th and July 25th - 27th): If you want to feel like you've entered a fantasy world for a weekend (or two), Tomorrowland is definitely for you. Taking place in the town of Boom, you'll be rocking out against a backdrop of incredible art installations of gargantuan proportions - it really isn't a sight to be missed.

The accompanying album follows the band's complete cover of Dark Side of The Moon in 2009

Flaming Lips have released a companion album to Pink Floyd’s seminal work, Dark Side of The Moon. The album is intended to be played at the same time as the 1973 original, and is called ‘Flaming Side of The Moon’.

The Flaming Lips pay tribute to Pink Floyd yet again

Fans of the Lips will be used to pre-existing conditions for listening to the band’s music as this isn't the first time the band have challenged listeners to play a number of albums simultaneously. 1997’s Zaireeka was issued on four CDs, all of which should be played simultaneously and starting at exactly the same time, meaning a prospective audience require four stereo system set-ups.

When people think of Spring in New Orleans, most are looking forward to the annual Jazz Festival - something that the city has arguably become all about, music-wise. However, an equally astounding event also made its mark this month; the Buku Music + Art Project. This is most certainly a one of a kind festival offering astounding musical line-ups, great food and breath-taking artwork along with a range of other on-site activities.